Mark Zuckerberg is not chicken

Among the more incongruous reports to come from the tech world lately is one describing awkwardly mild-mannered Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg dispatching a goat with a knife.

That is, apparently, "the most kind way to do it", said Jesse Cool, a Silicon Valley chef and Zuckerberg neighbour who has been the tech wunderkind's guide on his quest to eat only meat from creatures he kills himself.

"And I've learnt a lot about sustainable farming and raising of animals. It's easy to take the food we eat for granted when we can eat good things every day."

On his journey towards a more humane approach to food, the billionaire (and mostly vegetarian) has killed not only goats but also chickens and pigs.

British Prime Minister David Cameron, right, talks to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg during a working session on internet related issues at the G8 summit in Deauville, France.

Zuckerberg, 27, started off with the relatively goreless boiling of a live lobster.

"The most interesting thing was how special it felt to eat it after having not eaten any seafood or meat in a while," he told Fortune.

"I think many people forget that a living being has to die for you to eat meat, so my goal revolves around not letting myself forget that and being thankful for what I have."

In Ben Mezrich's book The Accidental Billionaires, which formed the basis of the film The Social Network, Zuckerberg was accused of eating koala on the boat of a Sun Microsystems executive.

LA Times

124 comments

Fair.

Commenter

CBR

Date and time

May 27, 2011, 9:32AM

So did he 'Like' the goat?

Commenter

Anastasia

Date and time

May 27, 2011, 9:36AM

What a strange article. Cruelty is cruelty and I don't think Mr Zuckerberg would have the skills to kill an animal humanley. The comment that he is 'mostly vegetarian' is ridiculous. You either are or you aren't and eating meat, poulty, fish occasionally means you are not vegetarian period. This is really about a very sad human being who is trying to justify torture. If he really wants to do something admirable he should go vegan.

Commenter

Kerry

Location

Melbourne

Date and time

May 27, 2011, 9:38AM

I once killed an animal with a knife and ate it. These days, we over sanitise our meat supply. It is rewarding to know exactly where your food came from, and what it looked like.

Commenter

Patrick

Location

Hong Kong

Date and time

May 27, 2011, 9:38AM

Good on him. That's how existence works. Absolutely nothing wrong with this at all. As long as there are no endangered species involved.

Commenter

yobbo

Date and time

May 27, 2011, 9:40AM

Why is this brutal? How does it differ from the steak or chicken or lamb you ate last night? This is the kind of writing I expect from the rubbish at HS. Why cant you just say he kills his own food to appreciate it more. If more people did that then there probably would be alot less food wastage and more animals wouldnt be brutally killed.

Commenter

dean

Location

melbourne

Date and time

May 27, 2011, 9:42AM

There's nothing brutal about what he is doing, he is simply doing what humans have done for thousands of years until more recent times when the vast majority have lost all connection of where food actually comes from and how it is produced.

Commenter

Rob

Location

Melbourne

Date and time

May 27, 2011, 9:42AM

How is that more brutal than anyone else eating meat? Believe it or not - animals generally need to be slaughtered before you eat them.

The title of the article makes it sound like he is slaughtering animals for a hobby (which a lot of people do). In reality, it sounds like he is being more humane, eating less meat and requiring himself to humanely kill the animals he chooses to eat.

If everyone was required to kill the animals they chose to eat rather than being so separated from the process - with clean pre-packaged supermarket meat - I'm sure a lot more people would choose to cut down on their meat intake.

Commenter

Good on him

Location

Melbourne

Date and time

May 27, 2011, 9:43AM

Sounds Bizarre .. but in his own obviously quite linear and direct way of thinking , it makes sense !

Commenter

dgm

Date and time

May 27, 2011, 9:49AM

Brutal? You're kidding. Or just want a sensationalist headline... Try Halal killing and compare before you use that term!